Make Do and Mend

During World War II, the British government had a fantastic propaganda campaign going. War rationing hit the UK hard, and new clothes were not easy to come by. We need those nylons for the boys on the front!

Well, nobody's under war rationing right now, but the economy isn't showing many signs of getting better any time soon, and I think it's worth revisiting that old campaign to try and re-learn some of the tricks our grandmothers were using to keep themselves in stylish clothes when money and new fabric were scarce.

Recession Fashion

I think most of the people who read this blog like to shop at thrift stores. Right? Right? I mean, if you don't, why not? They're the best! Seriously, most of my favorite clothes come from the good old Salvation Army up the road.

But I'm also sure that all of us who have braved these temples to unwanted stuff have had the following experience...

CHOCbite

I've got a whole lot of new things for you that I've accumulated in the last month (eek! month??) since I posted. Yikes. Since when is summer busier than the rest of the year? I'm not in school anymore but it hasn't been long enough for me to lose the association of summer with vacation and leisure.

Anyway, if you're looking for something fun and unique with which to take the edge off of how busy your summer has been, why not check out CHOCbite? They've got a whole range of customizable chocolate bars. No, seriously! You pick your chocolate, you pick your toppings, and then they're custom-made and sent to you.

Alternatively, I guess you could just hack it and do it yourself. ;)

Busy Bee

So, I have a history of making impulsive decisions and then immediately following through on them because I'm too impatient to wait, and by wait I mean "stop, think it over, and make a plan."

By and large, this has worked out for me. I feel like my gut  instinct is good. However, I still don't think of this as a particularly great quality about myself because occasionally and eventually it inevitably leads to trouble.

That being said.. this time, I think it's going to be ok.

DIY Swiffer Cover

I am a big fan of the Swiffer. I use it to mop my kitchen, and to pick up cat hair around my house.

I am not such a big fan of constantly throwing away Swiffer pads, which never last as long as I feel like they should.

Enter Berlin's Whimsy, with this awesome Homemade Swiffer Cover pattern. Now you can Swiffer to your heart's content, unbutton (or un-velcro, cause there's no way I'm sewing buttonholes into a double layer of terrycloth), and then toss them into the wash to be re-used.

The terrycloth looks like it would be great for wet-mopping. I wonder how it does with picking up lint and cat hair.

Maybe I'll experiment with a different fabric for that--perhaps one of those really cheap fabrics that they make dollar-store stuffed animals out of. You know the ones. Five seconds out of the package and they're already covered in hair and dirt. It would be perfect!

Any other suggestions for dry-sweeping fabrics I could try?

Yuck, Yuck, Yuck

Ok. So I've talked before about processed foods. Today, I want to focus specifically on one of them, one that--for no particular reason other than personal caprice--is possibly my most-hated example of the entire genre.

I'm talking, of course, about margarine.

Seriously? This is not even close to appetizing.

DIY All-Natural Lip Gloss

Want to protect, adorn, and nourish your lips, save some money, and stop using gross chemicals on your mouth at the same time?

Of course you do!

And PlanetGreen is here to help, with a quick recipe for do-it-yourself, all-natural lip gloss.

I never do these because I always feel like the huge bottles of things like aloe vera and coconut oil that people want to sell me are just too big. I'm never going to use that much! But, as a way to cut costs and spread the chemical-free wealth a bit, why not consider going in with some girlfriends on the price of this gloss, instead?